Textile crimping



D. A. ROSS Nov. 28, 1967 TEXTILE CHIMPING 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 21, 1965 Nov. 28, 1967 D. A. ROSS 3,354,511

TEXTILE CRIMPING Filed Jan. 21, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Ofifice 3,354,511 TEXTILE CRIMPING Donald Alexander Ross, Sudbury, Mass., assignor to International Wool Development Company, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, a proprietary limited Filed Jan. 21, 1965, Ser. No. 426,756 11 Claims. (CI. 19-66) This invention relates to mechanical crimping of animal, vegetable, and synthetic textile materials in the form of spun yarn, multi-filament yarn, singles yarn, plied or folded yarn slubbing, roving, sliver, top, tow, or sheets of fibers, such as card web.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a method for mechanically crimping such materials which can be reliably and economically practiced on realtively simple equipment which has both versatility with respect to the character of the crimping imparted to a single type of material, and a capacity, without complicated adjustment or interchange of parts, to accommodate a great variety of kinds and sizes of material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for mechanically crimping such materials with less physical degradation, particularly in the case of wool, than is caused by present-day crimping techniques which apply such severe compressive forces to the fibers as'to totally collapse them at spaced points and so weaken the fibers at the points of collapse as to cause tensile strength and elongation-at-break losses of up to 50% or even higher. Using the method and apparatus of this invention, crimping may be accomplished with little, if any, physical degradation.

Use of the invention permits, in addition to imparting crimp to normally uncrimped fibers for purposes of increasing resilience, compressibility, covering power, bulk or of increasing hand, upgrading crimped fibers of comparatively low natural crimp, such as the wool from certain breeds or having certain geographic origin.

In accordance with a preferred form of the invention, a textile strand material is continuously advanced along a pathway, in the course of which it is mechanically crimped by confining the continuously advancing strand against free lateral movement at two closely spaced lines of advance along its path of advance between which lines the strand runs freely suspended, and continuously changing the location of the first point of lateral confinement back and forth cross-wise of the general direction of strand advance while permitting the portion of the strand entering the second point of lateral confinement to substantially track the traversing motion at the first point as a result of the cross-force exerted by tension imposed upon the intervening suspended portion of the strand during its cross-motional egress from the first point of lateral confinement.

The cross-motion may be imparted to the strand at the second line of advance, in which case no cross-mo-' tion need, though it can also be, imparted to the strand at the first line of advance.

In both cases, the lateral location of the strand as it reaches the second line of advance moves back and forth along the transverse projection of the angularly advancing increment of yarn running between the two lines of advance.

Strand advance is caused by utilizing at the second line of advance opposed surfaces in the form of rollers or belts driven at a constant speed and forming a converging nip. The surfaces at the second line of advance define an elongated entrance slot leading, in the case of belts, into a flat laterally elongated confining passageway, the slot being of such width that the strand may enter the slot at various positions widthwise of the passageway and therefore traverse the slot laterally while continuously advancing into engagement between the constantly moving surfaces which grip the running strand against bodily transverse motion. Use of endless belts to form the confining passageway permits the belts to carry the strand gripped in the configuration it acquires upon entering the slot as a single layer along a planar pathway for such distance as may be required to perform such further treatment as is needed, or desirable, to set the configuration of the strand.

Preferably, the strand is gripped at the first line of advance also by a pair of surfaces moving in the direction of yarn advance, though in certain cases, it may suffi'ce to confine it merely by running it through a trough, eye, or other laterally confining guide.

In the case of strand material, such as slivers having low tensile strength, both sets of moving surfaces are preferably driven with the first set operating usually at a higher surface speed than those at the second station but, in some cases of discontinuous fibrous strands at a less speed.

The above and other objects of the invention will be more clearly understood when taken in connection with a description of the structure and operation of typical apparatus designed to practice crimping methods of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of essential operating parts of an apparatus performing a crimping operation in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the parts and operation shown in FIG. 1, showing certain parts in dotted line position;

FIG. 3 is a front end view, showing certain parts in cross-section, of a suitable apparatus for practicing crimping methods of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view, similar to that of FIG. 1, showing a modified form of operation;

FIG. 6 is a front end view, partly in cross-section, of a modified form of apparatus designed to practice the principles schematically illustrated in FIG. 5.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a pair of juxtaposed gripping and feeding rolls 1! and 12 forming a nip which is horizontally aligned with a nip formed by a second pair of gripping rolls 14 and 16, one of which is a constant speed driving roll. The rolls 10, 12 are mounted for simultaneous bodily reciprocation along their axes. A pair of laterally spaced guide pins 18, which reciprocate with rolls 10 and 12, lead wool sliver, as an example, between the feed rolls 10 and 12 constituting a first station. As the sliver proceeds beyond the feed rolls 10 and 12, it is pulled between the rolls 14, 16 constituting a second station. Reciprocating motion of the feed rolls 10 and 12, as indicated in FIG. 1 and as illustrated by the movement of the feed roll 10 and guide pins 18 from their full-line positions in FIG. 2 to their dotted line positions in FIG. 2, causes the sliver to leave the rolls 10 and 12 at constantly changing lateral positions so that the increment of sliver suspended between the two sets of rolls runs angularly and therefore causes an angular entrance of the individual sliver fibers into the second set of rolls, tracking the path of the slivers egress from the first set of rolls. The reversing of the angularity at the terminal of each reciprocation produces a bending of the fibers so that they merge from between the two rolls 14 and 16 with a crimped configuration, the character of which depends upon the particular settings of the variables, including the relationship between the speed of the reciprocation cycle and the rate of sliver advance, the pattern of reciprocation, the geometry of the spacing between and the relative speeds of the two sets of rolls, the pressure applied Patented Nov. 28, 1967 between each pair of rolls, and the-"temperature" of'the" rolls.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the apparatus in more detail, adding, in particular, a confining passageway trailingthe rolls 14 and 16 through which the crimped sliver may and 25,1 26; respectively, and rear end rollers 27 and 28. r

The adjacent traverses of the belts 21 and 22 form an open-ended planar passageway having an entrance in the formof an elongated transverse slot 29. The passageway extends through a steam box 30* of conventional construction. Rolls 27 and 28 are driven as through a common chain drive 31 to drive belts 21 and 22.

At the front end of frame 20, a depending bar 40 and an upstanding. bar 42 form. a pair of parallel opposed.

horizontal laterally extendingv guide rails whichare slide= ably engaged by bifurcated top and bottom ends of spaced side plates 44 and 45 of an intervening carriage 46. Side plates 44 and 45 are bolted'together by tie rods 47* and 48;"

An upper feed roll 50 and a lower feed roll 52' are mounted in suitable bearings for rotation between the side plates 44 and 45. In order to drive'lower roll1'52-,.

its shaft extends through side plate 44 and frame 20 and assumes a square configuration for insertion into a square bore of a drivepulley 53 journaled in'a" bearing 54 fixed' on frame 20; Such construction iswell known as a'means for driving feed roll 52 while'the roll 52reciprocates on carriage 46. Roll 50 is preferably spring-loaded- (not shown) to insure that the rolls firmly grip strand material passingtherebetween. Provisionimaybe made for heating any or? all of rolls 50,- 52, 24am]. 25 as by using hollow rolls through which heated water or steam may be' circulated, or by inserting electrical heating units.

Reciprocation of carriage 46 relative to" rail'bars40 and- 42 is imparted in FIG. 3 by acrank '60 pivotally connected to a suitable-extension 61 which isfixed onthe' outer sideof side plate 45,-thug'h' other reciprocating drives may be-used depending'upon what particular periodic motion is desired.

Side plates 44 and 45 also support forwardly extending ear plates" 62 and 63 which suspend therebetwee'n a vertically adjustable platform 64' carrying twdupstanding laterally spaced guide pins'6'5 and 66, which corre-' spondto the rods-18'show-n in FIGS. 1 and 2; and may bemounted for lateral adjustment. The'dis'tance' betweerr feed rolls 50 and 52 and the vertical reaches of belts ZI- and22-- may also be adjusted by moving rails- 40 and 42'- and the accompanying drive mechanism back and forth.

longitudinally on the frame 20;

FIG. schematically illustrates"a=modification wherein the feed rolls and 12, instead-"ofreciprocating; have" periodic motion by moving through'an orbital path. One

means for imparting such orbital motion is-shown in FIG. 6' wherein upper and lower-feed rolls 50and'52,

platform 64, and guide pins 65and 66 are arranged as:- in FIGS; 3 and4. However, carriage side plates44a-and 45a, instead of being engaged by opposed rails, are hung on a cross rod 70 whose ends are free to reciprocate" vertically in opposed vertical slots' 71 in' frame 20: The bottoms of side plates 44:: and'4'5a are adjust'abIy fixed to a yoke 72-whose legs are pivoted-to a pair of drive discs 73 and 74; driven in synchronism" by a common drive belt 75 by motor 76" through gear box 77. Roll 52 is driven through a' pulley 78 which, unlike pulley 53* in FIG. 4 is not attached to frame 20, but orbits with carriage 46a. Its drive belt 79 is sufficiently' elastic to accommodate this orbital motionwithout interrupting the drive of feed roll 52'.

Periodic orbital motion has certainadvantages over 4 the reciprocating motion-utilized in" FIGS: 3 and'4; Ap-' paratus-wise, it lessens vibration, and process-wise it tends more nearly to equalize the length of the increment of material suspended between the two sets of rolls throughout each cycle. In FIGS. 3 and 4, during reversals of the feed roll motion, slack may occur momentarily in the suspended increment of sliver which must pass through a condition of parallelism to' the direction of belt advance with each reversal of the angularity of' feed to the belt passageway. This momentary slack" can be partly or wholly taken up by including the relative up and down motion provided by the orbital path. In addition, if desired, the feed rolls'may move towards'and' away from the rolls 14 and 16 twice'in each cycle' so that at both extremities of their bodily" transverse" motion they are at their limit of motion towards rolls 14 and 16. Thus in the case of FIGS. 1 and 2, the back and forth motion of the feed rolls 10 and 12will be along an arcuate path, while in the case of FIG. 5, the path of motion will be alongithe' boundary of a saddle. Each of these motions tend to more equally control the strain on the increment of yarn suspended between the pairs of rolls by regulatingv its length throughout the cycle. These alternative paths of motion are indicated by the doubleended' arrowsin FIGS.- 1, 2and 5.

Example I the distancebetween the point of egress from the feedrolls and the point of entry into the belts beingadistance of about inches. The feed mechanism was reciproc'ated' at 60 cycles per minute over a traverse of 3.25 inches.

The steam box was 25' inches in length so that the fibers were steamed for 1.6minutes with steam entering the steambox at 7 p.s.i.-

The resulting wool sliver'contained' several rows ofcrimps per inch.

Comparative tensile tests of the Romney cross-bred wool gave mean values of 13.0 g./'tex breaking load and 32.0% elongation at break before crimping with losses of only 1.2% in breaking load and of only 5.8% in elon= gation at break after crimping. These results contrasted with losses of 56.8% in breaking load and'79 .3"%' in elongation at break when the same wo'olwas crimped in a commercial nylon stufier box crimper.

Loweringthe feed rollspeed down as far as 14 inchesv per minute failed to change appreciably the appearance of the crimp and was regarded as desirable in imposing. more tension on the suspended increment of the strand andhenc'e-greater stress conducive tomore permanence in the crimp.

Example 11 The procedure of- Example l was followed exce t that the sliver was wet-out with water prior to being fed to" the" apparatus.

Example 111 The procedure of Example I was followed except that the sliver was-additionally steamed prior to entering the feed rolls.

Example I V The procedure of Example I was followed except that the sliver was additionally steamed .bet'ween the feed rolls and the-belt nip.

Example V The procedure of Example I was followedexcep't that the sliver was additionally steamed both before and after going through the feed rolls.

Examples II, III, IV andVproduced results similar tothe' productof Example I.

Example VI The procedure of Example I was followed except that the sliver was additionally first wet out with a 1% aqueous solution of sodium bisulphite at room temperature and then passed through squeeze rolls to remove excess water before being brought to the feed rolls. If the treated sliver is dried, it is desirable to add moisture (either by steaming or padding) before the setting operation. The bisulphite treatment assists in setting the crimp and merely exemplifies one of the conventional setting agents heretofore used for such purposes in connection with other mechanical crimping processes. Others are, for example, sodium thioglycollate, ethanolamine, and monoethanolamine sulfite.

Example VII Utilizing the same apparatus settings set forth in Example I, a 6,000 tex sliver of 15 denier, 3.5 inches nylon polyamide was passed through the apparatus in accordance with the procedure of Example I. The resulting crimped sliver exhibited several rows of crimps per inch.

Similar results were secured with a 6,000 tex sliver of 3 denier, 4.5 inches orlon polyacrylic fiber, a 9,000 tex sliver of 4.5 denier, 4.5 inches Dacron polyester fiber and with a 7,800 tex sliver of linen flax vegetable fiber.

Example VIII The drive to feed roll 52 was disconnected so that rolls 50 and 52 rotated freely. Wool sliver, woolen and worsted and synthetic yarn were successfully crimped.

Mono-filament yarns may also be crimped by either a single feed or in simultaneous multiple feed. Multiple feeds may also be used for other strand materials, depending upon the width of the apparatus. Strand material as used herein is not intended to exclude lengthwise components of strands contained in open weave woven or other fabrics where such components are sufficiently free to be flexed into crimped configuration.

In general, the cross motion may be in the range of 1 to 5 inches where the shortest suspended increment of material between feed rolls and belts will be of the order of /2 inch in length, the belt speed is 16 inches per minute, and the cross-motion cycle is varied between 30 and 240 cycles per minute, but could be higher, particularly for synthetics. As previously described, the feed roll speed may be in a ratio to the belt speed of less or more than 1:1. Increasing the ratio to as much as 3:2, however, lessens the crimp. Belt speeds up to 34 inches per minute also have been used successfully. In general, the shorter the distance between the roll pairs, the less the required traverse.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, it can be understood that the relative motions of the two sets of rolls can beimparted by periodic lateral motion of the second set of rolls 14 and 16, rather than of the first set, or by outof-phase periodic lateral motion of both sets of rolls. Either of these modifications is, however, more complex Where belts are used, as in FIG. 3.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of imparting artificial crimp to fibrous and filamentary textile strand material which comprises advancing said strand material while confining the strand as it advances against free lateral motion at two closely spaced lines of advance of the advancing strand, with the strand freely suspended between said lines, continuously moving the strand as it advances through at least one of said lines of advance back and forth transversely with respect to its general direction of advance to cause the lateral location of the strand as it reaches the second line of advance to move back and forth along the transverse projection of the angularly advancing increment of strand running between said two lines to continuously reversely flex the strand laterally at such a frequency as to produce closely connected crimps lengthwise along said strand material and carrying the crimped strand in crimped configuration with the side edges of the layer continuously embracing a straight line running longitudinally medially of the layer.

6. The method of imparting artifical crimp to fibrous and filamentary textile strand material which comprises advancing said strand material while gripping the strand against free lateral motion at two separated, but closely spaced, lines of its advance, with the strand freely suspended between said lines, continuously moving the strand as it advances through at least one of said gripping stations back and forth transversely with respect to its general direction of advance to cause the lateral location of the strand as it reaches the second line of advance to move back and forth along the transverse projection of the angularly advancing increment of strand running between said two stations, to continuously reversely fiex the strand at such a frequency as to produce closely connected crimps lengthwise along said strand material and carrying the crimped strand in crimped configuration along a constant path beyond said second line of advance.

7. The method of imparting artificial crimp to fibrous and filamentary textile strand material which comprises advancing said strand material while gripping the strand against free lateral motion at two closely spaced stations of its advance, with the strand freely suspended between said lines, continuously moving the strand as it advances through the first of said stations back and forth transversely with respect to its general direction of advance to cause the lateral location of the egress of the strand from the first gripping station to move back and forth and cause the strand to be received in the second gripping station at varying locations tracking the cross-motion of the strand at the first station with the increment of strand material between said stations running in periodically reversing angular directions under tension at such a frequency as to continuously reversely flex the strand to produce closely connected crimps lengthwise along said strand material and carrying the crimped strand in crimped configuration along a constant path beyond said second line of advance.

8. Apparatus for crimping textile strand material comprising a pair of endless flat belts mounted in juxtaposed relation for unidirectional movement along close parallel opposed traverses and forming a flat, laterally elongated passageway therebetween, said belts forming a converging nip defining a slot at the entrance to said passageway for gripping strand material fed into said nip at any location along said slot, a pair of opposed strand-gripping rolls disposed in closed proximity to said nip for guiding strand material from said rolls directly into said nip and means for traversing said rolls back and forth in front of said nip at such frequency as to impose tension upon said strand material and cause it to advance from said rolls into said nip with reversing angularity and means for driving at least one of said belts to move the strand through said passageway.

9. Apparatus for crimping textile strand material as claimed in claim 8 having means to drive at least one of said rolls at a surface speed different from the surface speed of said belts.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the gripping nip between said rolls lies in the plane of said passageway in parallelism with said slot.

11. Apparatus for crimping textile strand material comprising" a pair of endless fiat belts'mounte'd'in juxtaposed relation for unidirectional movement along close parallel opposed traverses and forming a flat, laterally elongated passageway therebetweem. said belts forming a converging n'ig defining" a slot at the entrance to saidf'passageway' for grippingstrand" material fed into said nip at any location along said slot, means disposed in'cl'ose proximity to's'aid" nip for guiding strand material into said nip andmeans for moving said guidingme'ansin an orbital'path in front of said nip to impose tension npon" said strand material and cause'it'to' ad vance intosaid' nip in traversing" relation back and forth" along said slot and means for driving at least one of said belts to move tlie strand through said passageway;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 21134396 121/1931 Lovett 2'4'2-43 3:,0 5 8 ,1 6 7 10/19152 RainaId et al. 2 8 72- 31083 437 4/1963 Davis 19 -169 3,112,054 11/ 1963 Fleissner 2872 12C. WADDEY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. THE METHOD OF IMPARTING ARTIFICIAL CRIMP TO FIBROUS AND FILAMENTARY TEXTILE STRAND MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES ADVANCING SAID STRAND MATERIAL WHILE CONFINING THE STRAND AS IT ADVANCES AGAINST FREE LATERAL MOTION AT TWO CLOSELY SPACED LINES OF ADVANCE OF THE ADVANCING STRAND, WITH THE STRAND FREELY SUSPENDED BETWEEN SAID LINES, CONTINUOUSLY MOVING THE STRAND AS IT ADVANCES THROUGH AT LEAST ONE OF SAID LINES OF ADVANCE BACK AND FORTH TRANSVERSELY WITH RESPECT TO ITS GENERAL DIRECTION OF ADVANCE TO CAUSE THE LATERAL LOCATION OF THE STRAND AS IT REACHES THE SECOND LINE OF ADVANCE TO MOVE BACK AND FORTH ALONG THE TRANSVERSE PROJECTION OF THE ANGULARLY ADVANCING INCREMENT OF STRAND RUNNING BETWEEN SAID TWO LINES TO CONTINUOUSLY REVERSELY FLEX THE STRAND LATERALLY AT SUCH A FREQUENCY AS TO PRODUCE CLOSELY CONNECTED CRIMPS LENGTHWISE ALONG SAID STRAND MATERIAL AND CARRYING THE CRIMPED STRAND IN CRIMPED CONFIGURATION ALONG A CONSTANT PATH BEYOND SAID SECOND LINE OF ADVANCE. 